


The Lucky Item Hunt

by JackieWepps



Category: Free!, Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Friendship, Gen, luck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:08:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6954007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JackieWepps/pseuds/JackieWepps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto is having a rather unlucky day while Haruka seems to be going way better when it comes to that. <br/>Takao is having a rather unlucky day while Midorima's seems to be going way better when it comes to that. <br/>Why is that? Is there a connection? Can you really believe in luck and fortune?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Lucky Item Hunt

Makoto and Haruka were walking down the streets of Tokyo one early Saturday morning. They were spending the weekend here because Makoto had to deliver something to a distant family member who lived here. He got permission to stay there because Tokyo isn’t exactly close to Iwatobi, and when he asked his best friend Haruka to come along, the other felt like he couldn’t decline.

Today had had a very unfortunate beginning for Makoto. He had woken up at around three in the morning and didn’t seem to be able to fall back to sleep. When he decided to finally get up and go shower, he made the uncomfortable discovery that there was only ice-cold water and while he was on his way out of the uncomfortable shower, he slipped on the floor. However, by this time Haruka had gotten up because he heard the sound of the water running, and arrived to the bathroom just in time to catch Makoto before he hit the floor.

When the two were already at the ground floor of the hotel to have breakfast, they discovered it wasn’t open because it was only around 6:30 and the breakfast started at 7:00. Therefore they decided to head out on the streets to get some instead because Makoto was too hungry to wait. However, they didn’t come by many places to eat, and those they came by were still closed. By the time when they decided to head back to the hotel, because by now the breakfast was open, they discovered that they were hopelessly lost in the capital of Japan. That is why they were wondering the streets of Tokyo on an early Saturday morning, hungry and with no clue of where they were.

They had been attempting to find their way back for a while now when Makoto picked up a strange sound. It took some time before he realized it was the sound of Haruka’s growling stomach. He looked to Haruka and giggled a bit, he had never seen or heard any sign of the natural needs of a human come from his friend despite having known him for so many years now. Haruka didn’t look so pleased; in fact, he was glaring down at his stomach as if it needed permission from him before it started growling like that. This caused Makoto to giggle even harder and Haruka turned to glare at him instead.

“We better find something to eat soon,” Makoto commented after he had forced himself to stop giggling.

Haruka said nothing, but Makoto knew that he agreed.

Ahead of them, two other boys were walking. One was around the same height as Haruka and the other was way taller than Makoto. They appeared to be discussing something. Because of this, Makoto and Haruka had quickly caught enough up to them to hear what they were saying.

“Give me that, Shin-chan!” The shorter one yelled while attempting to pull something from the other male. “You always pay more attention to that than me, even when I have something important to say.”

“Oha-Asa is just as important, Nanodayo,” the other answered in a lower tone, but still loud enough for Makoto and Haruka to clearly hear what he said. “And be careful with that, Takao,” He continued

Just then the shorter one won the fight over the object and got so surprised that he accidentally dropped it. It fell to the ground and broke.

“Look what you have done, Takao,” the taller exclaimed angrily.

By this time, Makoto and Haruka had gotten close enough to see what the object was. It was a device you normally used to listen to the radio on. A small transportable radio. Though it wasn’t working at all at the moment. The shorter one knelt down to pick up the pieces.

“That looks pretty bad,” Makoto said as he knelt down to help the shorter one.

“Sure is,” Takao answered as he picked up the last piece and stood.

“It doesn’t look impossible to fix though,” Makoto added and stood up as well.

The shorter male’s face lit up. “Do you know how to do that?” he asked, hope in his voice.

“No, but my younger siblings once had something like this that broke and Haru fixed it for them.” Makoto smiled encouraging at Haruka.

Haruka wondered why Makoto had to randomly lend his help out to strangers, but he said nothing as he accepted the pieces from Makoto and that other guy and easily fixed the device untill it looked almost as good as new.

The taller boy looked at Haruka like he had just saved his life. “Thank you,” he said as he accepted the device. Haruka only nodded in response.

“I am Takao Kazunari, this is Midorima Shintarou. May we treat you to something to show our gratitude?” the shorter male asked.

“I am Tachibana Makoto, this is Nanase Haruka. Sure.” Makoto smiled at Takao and Midorima.

Takao started giggling and when Makoto send him an odd look, he started talking. “Excuse me, but did you just called your friend Haruka, isn’t that a girl’s name?”

Haruka frowned slightly at this.

“Don’t mind him,” Midorima said. “He wants to be annoying, nanodayo.”

“That’s a bit mean, Shin-chan,” Takao said as he dragged Makoto and Haruka to the nearest café.

* * *

 

The café was small and though there were only about 10 people or so inside, it already seemed full. However, Takao quickly managed to find a table with room enough for the four of them in the darkest corner of the place. How he spotted that table was a mystery.

“Is there anything you want?” Takao asked when they were all seated around the table. However, as soon as he had finished his sentence, Makoto’s stomach started growling, causing Takao to laugh. “Did you guys miss breakfast?”

Makoto nodded. “We did.”  
“Tea and some kind of breakfast it is then.” Takao stood. “I’ll pay,” he said.

“No, we can’t let you do that!” Makoto exclaimed, attempting to stop Takao from walking up to order.

“No worries,” Takao smiled. “I owe you guys one anyway,” he said as he walked up and ordered. There was no line so he returned quickly.

As they waited for their food and tea to be served, they talked about interests. Makoto told that he and Haruka were both swimmers and members of the swim club at Iwatobi High School. In return they learned that Takao and Midorima were playing basketball for Shuutoku.

“That’s one of the best schools in Tokyo isn’t it?” Makoto asked,

“How do you know that?” Takao asked, surprised. He won’t expect for a couple of swimmers from a school in a village somewhere to know anything about which schools were good at basketball.

“Well, one of Haru’s classmates from middle school was considering to go there for high school, and I sometimes overheard other members of the basketball club talk about it,” Makoto said.

“I thought you said you were a swimmer?” Takao asked, an amused smile on his face.

“I was considering the basketball club when I first started middle school,” Makoto explained.

“Excuse me,” a waiter interrupted as he came to the table to serve their tea. He placed a cup in front of each of them and poured for both Midorima and Haruka.

Haruka took a sip. It was a strong tea.

The waiter then started pouring into Makoto’s cup but once it was full and the waiter pulled back, he hit the cup and it fell down into Makoto’s lap, spilling tea all over him.

“I’m very sorry sir,” the waiter said as he placed the pot on the table and attempted to help Makoto.

“It’s fine,” Makoto said. “Excuse me.” He got up to find some paper to dry himself and maybe wash the places where the tea had hit in cold water. Haruka helped the waiter clean up the rest of the spilled tea.

In the meantime, Midorima had turned on his radio and was now listening carefully to Oha-Asa with a strange expression on his face.

“What’s wrong, Shin-chan,” Takao asked once he noticed Midorima’s expression. Haruka sat back up on his chair again.

“Takao what’s your zodiac sign?” Midorima asked while studying Takao carefully.

Takao took some time thinking. “eh… Scorpio I think, why?” he asked.

“Thought so,” Midorima said without answering Takao’s question. “Nanase, what’s Tachibana’s zodiac sign?” he asked.

Haruka looked confused at them. Where in the world would he know that? “I don’t know,” he answered.

“What’s his birthday?” Takao asked.

“November 17th.” The answer flew out of Haruka’s mouth as automatically as if he was dying to say it.

“He is Scorpio then,” Midorima said. “Things make sense now.”

Haruka had no clue of what they were talking about and why they would need Makoto’s birthday and zodiac sign all of the sudden. It seemed a bit strange to him.

“What’s your zodiac sign, Nanase?” Takao asked.

“He is Cancer, born on June 30th,” Makoto said. He had finally returned. “Why are you asking?” he sat back down on the chair and took a sip of the tea. The waiter had refilled his cup while he was gone.

“Does it have something to do with Oha-Asa?” Takao asked.

“Yes, in fact it does,” Midorima said. “Today, the most fortunate zodiac is Cancer while the most unfortunate one is Scorpio,” he said.

“Is that a bad thing?” Makoto wondered.

“On a day like today I’d take it just a bit seriously,” Takao advised, “Since we haven’t exactly had luck on our side.”

Makoto nodded, thinking about everything that had happened to him ever since he decided to get out of bed that same morning.

This led to a discussion of what had happened to them up until now. Apparently Takao’s parents had had to leave early that morning so Takao had had to bring his younger sister to a friend’s house but she had been troublesome all morning; the microwave, where they were supposed to heat their breakfast, wasn’t working and so they had eaten it cold; and when they were about to leave the house, Takao had remembered that he had left his bike at Midorima’s house the night before, so he had to walk his sister to her friend’s house.

Midorima had lifted his cup of tea to finish it when he suddenly slammed it into the table again and nearly spit out the mouthful he had just taken.

“What’s wrong, Shin-chan?” Takao asked.

“We need to find our lucky items fast!” Midorima said. “If we don’t, your misfortune will affect ours.” He was almost in a panic.

“What happens if we don’t find them?” Makoto asked nervously, caused by Midorima’s panic.

“Bad things?” Takao suggested.

“Worse than what you two have experienced until now,” Midorima said dramatically.

Makoto swallowed. “Then we really should go find them, but what are our lucky items?” he asked.

“They’re about to say it now,” Midorima said. Makoto practically jumped on the other side of the table to sit next to Midorima and grabbed one of his earphones, putting it into his own ear to hear for himself what could save his day.

The mood around the table was tense. Midorima, Makoto and Takao were all holding their breaths as Midorima and Makoto listened to Oha-Asa. Haruka was the only one who did not act differently. He took another sip of the tea, emptying his cup, while appearing to be calm on the outside. On the inside he was just as breathless as everyone else.

After around 5 minutes of waiting Haruka spoke. “What is that lucky item?”

“Well we both got a lucky color and an item,” Makoto responded. “The lucky color for Cancer is blue, the lucky color for Scorpio is green while the lucky item is… saffron.”

“You forgot our lucky item,” Midorima said. “Our lucky item is-“

Makoto placed his hand over Midorima’s mouth, cutting him off, while leaning in to whisper in his ear as Haruka would not hear him. “Don’t say that, Midorima-san. He might be the only one who knows where to get any saffron and if you mention his lucky item we will never get him back.”

Midorima nodded. He was just as interested in finding Scorpio’s lucky item as everyone else, if not the most interested in the matter. He did wonder why it was such a big deal with that item but kept his mouth shut about it. Makoto knew Haruka best.

“Is everyone finished?” Takao asked.

Makoto looked to Haruka before nodding. “I guess we are.”

“Then let’s get this over with,” the shorter said, making it clear that he wasn’t really into this idea.

“Let’s go, Haru,” Makoto said, grabbing Haruka’s wrist and dragging him along out of the café, behind Midorima and Takao.

* * *

 

“I have a quick question,” Takao said as they passed the place where they first met earlier this morning. Everyone looked at him, showing that they were listening to his words. “What is saffron exactly, I know you use it for food but I don’t know if it’s some kind of rice or a mushroom or anything.”

“It’s seasoning,” Haruka answered. “It is used in much Asian food, mostly Indian and Thai. It is rare and expensive and you usually only get it in small amounts.”

“What does it look like?” Makoto asked.

Haruka had to think back and recall that one time when he got to use it. “Yellow powder,” he answered.

“Where do we find it?” Midorima asked.

Haruka thought. “Stores for seasonings, maybe a kitchen if you’re lucky.”

“Why only if we’re lucky?” Takao asked. “What does luck have to do with it?”

“It’s probably because it is only sold in small amounts and is expensive,” Makoto explained. “People only go to buy it when they need it, that means it is probably used up the same day as it’s bought.”

“I see,” Takao smiled. “We’ve got the work cut out for us.” He didn’t say nothing for a while. “Hey, maybe I have some at my house. My mom made Indian curry last night.”

“Before we go to your place, I would try over there, nanodayo,” Midorima said, pointing to a seasoning store that none of the others had noticed until now.

All of them walked over there and started looking. There were many small boxes in the tiny shop, all of them with different seasonings. All of them looked carefully at each box and what was in it. Makoto was attempting to sniff in the scent of something he didn’t know when he heard the sound of someone stepping up next to him.

“Are you looking for anything in particular?” an old lady who looked to be at least 70 years old said. Makoto was so surprised that he jumped. He had thought the person was Haruka or one of the others. He quickly got over it though.

“Y-yes, we are looking for saffron,” he said.

The old lady nodded and started to help them look through her seasonings, but she quickly stopped. “I don’t have it here, but I might have something in the back if you’ll please wait,” she said before heading to the back of the store. She quickly came back with a regretful expression. “I’m sorry boys, but it appears I have run out,” she said.

“Okay,” Makoto smiled. “Thanks for helping us out anyway,” he said.

The four boys exited the store and started heading down the street towards Takao’s house. He claimed it wasn’t too far from their current position, and he was right. They hadn’t been walking for more than 15 minutes when Takao turned down a street and shortly after opened a gate to a small house about half-way down.

He allowed the others to enter the house before closing the door behind them. They quickly went to the kitchen to start looking. They didn’t get to do it for long though. Takao knew where the seasoning was kept and after Haruka had taken half a minute looking at them, he shook his head. There was no saffron in there.

“There is no luck,” Takao sighed. “Let’s face it, we’re never gonna find any saffron.” He sat down on a chair tiredly. He had given up. It didn’t matter to him anyway.

“Don’t say that,” Makoto said, placing a hand on Takao’s shoulder. “We’ve only looked two places so far and we might find something soon,” he said.

“Let’s check other shops,” Midorima said before exiting the house. The others quickly followed and Takao locked the door, upset that they couldn’t just give up and go home.

* * *

 

They had been walking in silence for about 10 minutes, all in deep thoughts of what to do, when Haruka turned to face Makoto with a small suggestion.

“What about that relative of yours?” he asked.

Makoto shook his head. “They’re not really into cooking. They’re too busy,” he said.

Haruka nodded once, showing that he understood.

“I’m out of ideas,” Takao declared. “What about you, Shin-chan?” he asked.

Midorima looked down. “No,” he said. It sounded like he was feeling down, but maybe that was just in contrast to Takao’s ever so cheerful tone.

“We can’t just give up yet,” Makoto tried to encourage. “We have only looked two places. There has got to be some saffron somewhere,” he said.

Takao smiled as he nodded. “It’s great to hear someone is keeping up the positive thinking, Tachibana.”

“One of us has to do it,” Makoto said.

“OI! Be careful down there!” a voice yelled from above and all four boys suddenly had to jump aside not to get hit by an iron pipe, falling down from the roof of the house they were walking by. The pipe landed on the ground with one end first, right where Takao had been standing less than ten seconds ago.

The man who had yelled was sitting on the roof of the house. It looked like he had accidentally dropped the pipe. “You boys okay?” he asked concerned.

Makoto shook his head to clear himself from the worst of the shock before answering. “We’re fine.”

Takao swallowed as he looked at the place where the pipe hit the ground. “I take back everything bad I ever said about luck,” he said, his voice nearly a whisper. He then looked down to Midorima’s hand that was holding his arm. It was only thanks to him that nobody got hurt.

“We really have to find some saffron fast,” Makoto said before taking the lead of the group to another place where you could buy seasoning, this time, a local marked.

They split up to look, two and two, Haruka and Makoto walked together and Midorima and Takao walked together, looking through each stall for the expensive seasoning.

It didn’t take Takao and Midorima too long to find a stall where a man was selling all kinds of seasoning. Many of these were displayed for everyone to see, the problem was that Midorima and Takao could identify all of them as not being saffron.

“Do you think they have it in the back, Shin-chan?” Takao asked, while looking closely at the area behind the man.

“Let me ask,” Midorima said.

“Why?” Takao wondered.

“With your luck, if you ask, he is sure not to have it,” Midorima said. Takao wondered how whether he had it or not could depend on who asked, but let it be up to Midorima to figure that one out for himself.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“Excuse me,” Midorima said, causing the man to look at them. He had just finished selling some exotic kind of pepper to and elderly woman.

“What can I do for you boys?” he asked.

“You don’t happen to have any saffron, do you?” Midorima asked.

The man scratched his neck as he started thinking long and hard about whether he had saffron in his stall or not. He went to the back to look and quickly returned with an apologizing look.

“I’m sorry boys,” he said. “I think I’ve run out.”

“Do you remember who  you sold it to?” Makoto asked. He and Haruka had just arrived behind Midorima and Takao. They had had no luck finding saffron themselves.

“Eh…” The man scratched his neck again. “I sold some to the amulet maker over there.” He pointed at a purple tent just three stalls down.

Midorima nodded, smiling on the inside. He had got a great idea now.

The tent they had been directed towards was a large one. When the boys closed in on it they could see it wasn’t just purple, it had thin, pink stripes too. They walked inside, Midorima had to dodge his head a little to avoid the ceiling as they entered but inside there was no trouble.

The tent was way darker inside and all four boys stopped for a short while as their eyes could adjust to the darkness and everything became clear. As their sight became clearer they let their eyes trail around, taking in the surroundings. There were little tables with little fabric bags on them in all the colors you could think of. They weren’t even sorted and Makoto and Midorima both wondered how the owner of the bags knew what was in which.

“Hello boys,” a voice came from the shadows.

All four jumped in surprise as they heard the horas voice. When they turned around they saw a woman dressed in a blue yukata. She looked younger than she sounded, judging from her voice. She was way shorter than Haruka and Takao, like around 25 cm. Her hair was long and black and her eyes brown and lively. Her skin was pale, probably from staying in the darkness so much and aside from a few winkles around her eyes, she had none at all.

“Hello.” Takao was the first one to get over the surprise of her presence, which was much similar to Kuroko’s, barely even there. That was how she took all of them by surprise.

“Are you boys looking for something?” The woman asked.

All four exchanged looks before Haruka and the woman made eye contact and the woman just smiled.

“You’re here for amulets aren’t you?” she asked. “But with that goes a fortune telling, are you willing to pay for that?”

Now it was only Takao and Makoto exchanging looks. “I’m willing to go for it,” Makoto said.

Takao nodded in response. “I don’t believe in fortunes but if that’s what it takes…”

“Comes from the guy who was nearly hit by an iron pipe earlier,” Midorima mumbled. This shut Takao up completely.

“Four fortune tellings,” the woman said. “May I take your names?” she asked.

“Takao, Midorima, Nanase, and I’m Tachibana,” Makoto presented all of them quickly, he didn’t find the need to mention their first names. The woman wrote down their names.

“Thank you,” she smiled as the winkles by her eyes got a little more visible than before. “Then shall we start with you, Kazunari?” the woman asked Takao who nodded and quickly followed her to a part of the tent that was covered by a curtain.

Only few minutes passed before Haruka looked at Makoto. “You didn’t mention our first names did you?” he asked.

Makoto had to think back for a second. “No,” he defined. “I only gave up our surnames.”

Haruka looked at the curtain in wonder then. “Then… how did she know Takao’s first name?” he asked.

All three of the remaining boys thought about that until Takao came back out and they heard the horas voice call for Haruka, and like before, she used his first name.

It went on similarly for all of them. Midorima came in after Haruka and Makoto was the last one who the woman requested to see. None of them mentioned what they had heard. She had forbid them to speak of it or it would ruin their luck completely for the rest of their lives. The statement didn’t affect Takao and Haruka as much as it affected Midorima and Makoto.

“Well, now that I know your fortunes it is time to get you all some amulets for luck in the future.” She walked up to a table and picked out two of her little bags, one was dark green, the other was blue. “These are both for luck in competitive activities, that being sports or contests or anything along those lines,” she said as she handed Midorima the green one and Haruka the blue one. She then went to pick up a lime-green one and an orange one up and handed the green one to Makoto and the orange one to Takao. “These are for social luck, making friends and finding your soulmate and such, and before you ask, it holds a tiny bit of saffron in it for the sake of a strong mental development,” she explained. “That should cover the worry of lucky items, Shintarou,” she said as she looked at Midorima. “And now each of you should pay me 1000 yen for both the amulet and the fortune telling, and 50 extra yen for Shintarou, if you want to get information on your own lucky item,” she continued, with a cruel smile on her face that suited her terribly.

All of them payed the 1000 yen and all of them thinking it was a bit much, and Midorima payed the extra 50 yen with no complains and thanked her.

“If you head to the road you will find a stall selling many things and among those, swimsuits. You will be in need of three. When you make it to the street turn right and then right again on the first chance you get. Down that road you will find the public pool.”

Midorima thanked the woman once again and so did Makoto while Haruka and Takao went outside to wait for them. Then they headed to the stall and bought swimsuits for Midorima, Takao and Makoto, who had left his swimsuit at home, before they headed to the public pool. It was needless to say that as soon as Haruka saw the pool his clothes landed in a pile on the ground right next to where he stood before he ran down there as fast as possible.

They spent the rest of that day just swimming around in that pool.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, since I was dependent on luck today, I found it befitting to publish this story now. This is also published on FF.net.   
> I guess I've got nothing more to say so let's just call it a day (wow... I'm so poetic) Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. 
> 
> Jackie


End file.
